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The Chicago Blackhawks are not fans of Alberta hockey teams this year. One night after getting smoked 8-4 by the Edmonton Oilers, the Hawks came into Calgary looking to get back to their winning ways. Unfortunately for Chicago fans, Miikka Kiprusoff, Jarome Iginla, Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester weren’t having anything to do with that.

Olli Jokinen opened the scoring at 12:24 of the first period with a slap shot blast that went in and out of the net so fast that the refs didn’t even see it go in. The replays showed that it bounced off the back bar of the net, and Olli was eventually credited with his 13th goal of the season. One thing is sure: Olli Jokinen needs to eat more Big Macs.

Chicago tied the game up late in the fist period when Brent Seabrook snapped a shot past Kipper with just 29 seconds left.

The 2nd period wasn’t the greatest 20 minutes in recent Flames memory, but they did manage to increase their offensive production when Jay Bouwmeester fired a rebound past Chicago goalie Ray Emery on the powerplay. It was Jay Bo’s 4th goal of the season and seemed to turn the tide for the Flames.

Though there was some pressure from the Hawks early in the third, Calgary managed to hold off the visitors as Kiprusoff did his usual thing and kept them in the game. Then, with less than 7 minutes remaining, Alex Tanguay sniped a pass to Jarome Iginla who got behind the Chicago defence. Showing great patience on the breakaway, Iggy out-waited Emery, deked to his left and had the whole net to fire his 19th goal of the season into.

The Flames held off Chicago’s late push and ended the game with a 3-1 win and two important points in the standings.

Of note in this game was the return of Krys Kolanos to the NHL. It was certainly a big game for the Calgary native, who hasn’t skated in the NHL since playing 21 games with the Minnesota Wild in 2009. I fear that it will be his last for a while though. Kolanos, who was an AHL All Star this year, seemed out of place, and off-pace in the big league and will most likely find himself back in Abbotsford next week.

The Flames now head out on the road for a 3-game road trip in the sun. They play in Anaheim on Monday, San Jose on Wednesday and Phoenix on Thursday.

Greg is the founder of Red Mile Blog has been following the Flames through good times and bad since they arrived in Calgary in the early 80s. He has written hundreds of articles on the Flames since 2005 and considers himself an expert on hockey inconsistency and frustration. He shoots right and usually plays defence, but has been known to jump up in the rush. He is a 2-time CAHL men's league champion and knows the sweet taste of beer from a Cup.